Transitions - Chapters 1 to 4
by Insane Icon Simon X
Summary: Imagine what could happen if Jesse & James and Butch & Cassidy had to swap partners...


Transitions - Part I  
  
Giovanni had summoned the minions to his office, namely Jesse, James, Butch and Cassidy. Unfortunately, as usual, Jesse was running late, and as expected, this angered Giovanni, while he sat impatiently, eyeing down the other three.  
At the same time, James and Butch sat staring each other down, like two caged lions preparing to go for the same slab of meat, whilst Cassidy sat with an uninterested look.  
It was at this point that Jesse came bursting through the door, as if she had not done anything wrong.  
"Ah, Jesse, so glad you could make an appearance" spoke an annoyed Giovanni, in his broad English accent.  
Jesse was about to respond with some improvised excuse, when she saw who else was in the room. "What is SHE doing here?" she snarled.  
"Waiting for you to show your ugly face!" snidely commented Cassidy.   
"Oh shut your mouth!"  
"Yeah, whatever. Oh, by the way, Jesse, does your face hurt?"  
"No, why?"  
"Because it's killing me!"  
Jesse went red at the fact she had not only been caught by the oldest joke in existence, but that James was chuckling because of it. She was just about to pounce on Cassidy and silence her, when Giovanni released a cough, and an evil glare. Jesse immediately scarpered to her seat, and James stopped laughing.  
"The reason I've summoned you four is because of your six month performance evaluations" Giovanni informed the four.  
"This should be interesting" murmured Cassidy to Butch.  
"In the past six months, Butch and Cassidy have each been able to steal me over two hundred rare Pokémon. And just how many have you two given to me in the past six months?" He asked Jesse and James.  
"Uh…" spoke Jesse  
"Umm…" moaned James.  
"We…"  
"Didn't we…"  
"My bet is they didn't bring any Pokémon" whispered Cassidy to Butch.  
"And you would be right" smirked Giovanni. "In the past eighteen months, I've seen nothing, nada, zero, zip Pokémon from either of you."  
"I KNEW IT!" celebrated Cassidy. "You two are outta here!"  
"SILENCE!" ordered Giovanni. "I'm not firing anyone. I'm implementing a partner swap program."  
"A what?" all four agents questioned.  
"Effective immediately, Cassidy Peters, your new assigned partner will be James Roberts. Jessica White, your new partner will be Butch Francis," Giovanni ordered, and as expected, there was protests from all four. "And if I fail to see a good performance in the next three months, from both groups…" the next part needed no words, just a thumb across the throat.  
Instantaneously, all four agents turned white with fear, but reluctantly agreed.  
"I knew you would see the logic in my decision, isn't that right, Persian?"  
The Persian growled in its evil tone. Had Meowth been in the room, there would have been a possible fight.  
"But boss, what about our uniforms? Our new partners do not co-ordinate with out uniforms!" Jesse moaned.  
"Hmm… I know. Butch, James, you two will exchange uniforms within twenty-four hours." Giovanni answered.  
"But black isn't my colour!" whined James.  
"SILENCE!"  
"Y…yes boss!" James yelped, scarpering out of the door, with the rest of them.  
Once the agents had left, Giovanni let out a sigh of stress. "Sometimes it seems these agents put beauty before duty. This is a crime group, not a beauty parlour!" Giovanni pulled out his Dictaphone. "Memo, August fifth. Remember to implement new anti-vanity regulations at a later date" he spoke, before reaching for his Whisky bottle.  
  
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Transitions - Part II  
  
Later that evening, in James' new dormitory, James found he was admiring himself in the mirror, because he was surprised how much Black was his colour! It seemed to work for his skin much better then white!  
"Oh yeah! I feel pretty!" he said to himself, posing in front of the mirror, when he suddenly heard the dormitory door open, and he quickly stopped.  
"Still posing?" sneered Cassidy, entering the room, closing the door behind her.  
"No, I was, uh…" mumbled James, trying to make an excuse.  
"I don't care for your excuses. I didn't want in this project, I don't want to work with you, and now I'm only doing this to save my ass!" she screamed.  
"Well, do you think I want to do this as well?" James screamed back.  
"Well you don't have to shout!"  
"Look who's talking!"  
"Oh shut your mouth!"  
"You shut yours, bimbo!"  
"HOW DARE YOU!" screeched an enraged Cassidy, before striking James as hard as she could. James didn't seem phased by the punch.  
"Is that the best you can swing?" James laughed. "Jesse's punches actually winded me. Your punches are like… flea bites."  
"FLEA BITES?" Cassidy snarled, but just gave up. "Anger management, must stay calm, must stay cool…" she muttered to herself. James just walked over to his bunk and lay down. It was getting late in the evening, and it was time for Cassidy to let her hair down before bed. And in doing so, she unwittingly got some glances from James.  
"She looks good with her hair down" he thought to himself. "Mind you, so did Jesse. But Jesse never let me stay in the room when she was letting her hair down" he reminded himself.  
"So, uh… what's the plan for tomorrow?" Cassidy enquired, running a brush through her hair.  
"I don't know. Jesse and Meowth were always cooking up plans to get that Pikachu…"  
"A Pikachu?" Cassidy smirked, before roaring with laughter.  
"What's so funny?"  
"Don't you know? The boss has an allergy to all rodent Pokémon!"  
"Really?"  
"Yeah! Pikachus, Raichus, Ratattas and Raticates send him out in hives!"  
"I never knew that…"  
"I've got an idea how to haul a lot of Pokémon… listen up…" Cassidy signalled to James, and he walked over to Cassidy, where she whispered her plan to him.  
But over the other side of the barracks, things were the same. Jesse was trying to lay down some ground rules, after Butch wouldn't giver her privacy when letting her hair down, but eventually, with Jesse being Jesse, she got her way, and Butch, got scars. But Butch now seemed more interested in his latest edition of "Guns and Ammo" magazine, mainly an article about some new automatic rifles that have been made for military sale.  
"And lastly, and most importantly… I want you to always… ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?" Jesse started to shout.  
"Uh huh" Butch just grunted.  
"Then what did I just say?"  
"I dunno." Butch replied, before cracking up with laughter. Jesse was still one big joke to him, but she failed to see the funny side, in fact, that last comment just made her more mad. She was so mad, that she tipped Butch's chair over, sending him face first to the floor.  
"OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" he screamed, holding his back, which hurted like hell.  
"Look here Froggy, in this relationship, I'm boss. What I say goes. No questions asked. Got that?"  
"Whatever…" replied an uninterested Butch, who was busy looking for his magazine, which had landed under the bottom bunk.  
"Good. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed. We've got a long day tomorrow getting that Pikachu, and I need my beauty sleep."  
"Whatever…"  
"Goodnight" Jesse finished, before climbing into the bottom bunk. It was at that point that Butch kneeled up.  
"Sorry, did you say something? I was busy" questioned Butch, who had not been paying attention to Jesse, but all he got was a loud snore for a reply. "Whatever…" he groaned to himself, before resuming the search for his magazine.  
  
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Transitions - Part III ~ Officer Jenny  
  
"That was a good heist!" James beamed, as he and Cassidy walked down the street. It was about the first time that James had seen success. They had just managed to trick several young trainers into handing over all their Pokémon, telling them they ran a pokéball cleaning service, where they loaded them into a truck, which drove them back to base, while James and Cassidy went to find someone else to scam.  
"I must say, you are a much better worker then what Butch told me," Cassidy added.  
"And you the same, well, except for it wasn't Butch, it was Jesse, and it wasn't me, it was you, and…" he babbled, not making any sense. Cassidy just giggled to herself.  
"I understand" she smiled.  
"That's good, because I didn't" he laughed back, but what they had failed to realise that an Officer Jenny had been following them, and she had finally plucked up the courage to confront them.  
"I know you two! You're from Team Rocket!" the Officer Jenny shouted.  
"You must be mistaken…" James nervously spoke… "Ve… are… just humble tourists… from ze nation of… France…" he added, in a pathetic French accent. The Officer Jenny just frowned, not impressed at all.  
"Growlithe! Get them!" the Officer Jenny ordered, opening a pokéball. James and Cassidy were now face to face with a well trained Growlithe. It took one look at James, and snarled.  
James yelped, then nervously spoke to Cassidy. "What… do… we… do… now?" he quivered.  
"We… we… RUN!" Cassidy screamed, fleeing into the forest. James followed Cassidy, and the Growlithe chased, in hot pursuit. But it was still getting closer and closer, when suddenly; the Growlithe lets out a fire blast. James was close enough to hear it coming, and was able to push Cassidy to one side and into a ditch, but in doing so, he landed badly on a tree stump. Suddenly, the Growlithe stopped, and began to head back to the Officer Jenny. Both agents scuttled out of the ditch, and into a nearby clearing.  
"Now what do we do?" James complained, his back feeling sore.  
"I've got an idea," Cassidy replied, removing her right glove, to reveal a small communication device integrated into her watch. "This Rocketto-One to control. Rocketto-One to control."  
The small speaker on the device whirred and whistled, until a voice began to reply. "This is control speaking, what's the problem Cassidy?"  
"Yeah, I'm gonna need some assistance over here, could you dispatch an agent for me a.s.a.p.?"  
"I'll need your location."  
"Hold on a second," Cassidy added, before turning to James. "James, do you have your watch on?"  
"Of course" he replied, he loved his watch, mainly as a fashion accessory.  
"Well, can you get our position?"  
James just blinked at Cassidy. He had no idea what she was talking about.  
"You know, our GPS location," Cassidy added. James still had no idea. "Oh, for the love of…" Cassidy sighed, before walking over to James. She grabbed his left arm, and began to remove the glove. "Okay, see, this is your watch" she began.  
"I know that!" he replied, trying not to look too much of an idiot.  
"Well, you press this button to get our location! You should have known that from your training!" Cassidy gruffly replied, before pressing the button on James' watch to check their location. In this time, James couldn't help but feel Cassidy's hair brush past his cheek. Her hair was not as soft as Jesse's was, but it smelled nicer.  
"By the way, your hair smells nice today" James had to comment.  
"Uhh… Thanks…" Cassidy replied, waiting for a reading to come up on the display of James' watch. "Butch never complemented me when I worked with him" Cassidy thought to herself. Eventually, a reading came up. Quickly, she turned round, and began to speak into her own watch again. "Control, this is Rocketto-One again, our position is forty-three by seven by sixty-one by three."  
The watch whistled and whined again. "This is control, we're dispatching an agent. Control out."  
"Rocketto-One out" Cassidy finished, before putting her glove back on. She then reached into her pocket, and pulled out something. "You'll need these," she said to James, throwing a small box to him. James fumbled around, but eventually, he caught it, and opened it. Inside were earplugs.  
"Earplugs? Why would I be needing…" James began, but was interrupted by the sound of a Jet plane breaking the sound barrier. James felt like his eardrums had just blew a gasket. He began to scream with pain. "OW! OW! OW!" he screeched, as he hopped around the opening.  
Cassidy, however, just rolled her eyes, while removing her earplugs. "Told you that you'd need those," she then began to look up, and she smiled when she saw who was parachuting in. James looked up, and wondered who it was.  
"Who's that?" he asked.  
"Corzon" she replied.  
"Who?"  
"Corzon McAdamms, senior assistance agent, first class" a voice poked up, as he landed in the clearing. He picked himself up, and turned to Cassidy.  
"Well, this is a surprise," Cassidy spoke. "Haven't seen you around in a long time."  
"Yes, it has been a long time."  
James was even more confused, and unwittingly released his two cents. "You guys… know each other?"  
Cassidy turned to James and just smiled. "Yeah, I know him, we've been friends since we were just young children."  
"She's right, we've been good friends for a long time," Corzon added, before turning to Cassidy again. "Hey Cass, where's your usual guy?"  
"Butch? Well, he's been transferred. I'm stuck with this guy."  
"He looks familiar…" Corzon squinted. "Do you know Mondo?"  
"Mondo? Don't mention that… hyper dude!" James shrieked.  
"He's my brother."  
"Really? I fail to see a resemblance."  
"Trust me, he is."  
"I'll take your word for it."  
Corzon turned back to Cassidy. "So, what's our location?" he asked.  
"It was forty-three by seven by sixty-one by three" she coolly replied. Corzon pulled a small device from his pocket, and keyed in the co-ordinates. A few seconds later, he put the device back, and then walked over to Cassidy.  
"There's a helicopter about five hundred yards away. Follow me" he ordered, before heading off in one direction. Cassidy began to follow, and James trailed behind Cassidy. All three were silent. All you could hear was the calls of some wild Pidgey.  
"So, you've known him for a long time?" James piped up.  
"Yes, he's one of Team Rocket's best." Cassidy replied. "He can work any vehicle he sees. But he does have one problem…"  
"What's that?"  
"When it comes to walking… he's…" Cassidy was about to finish, but she was interrupted by a large crack, then a thud. She and James looked across, and there was Corzon, lying face first in the grass, groaning in some pain. "When it comes to walking, he's totally inept." She walked over to Corzon, and helped him back to his feet. He wiped the mud from his face, then began walking again. James and Cassidy followed on behind, in silence.  
  
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Transitions - Part IV ~ Officer Jenny  
  
"Uh huh, good, nice" Giovanni commented, as he sifted through the papers. He was truly impressed. He put the stack of papers back on his desk, and turned back to the twosome. "Well, I have to say, this is impressive. In fact, this is the most Pokémon hauled in one go. As a reward, you may have the next fortnight off, paid."  
"Really?" James asked, his eye widening.  
"Yes, now get outta here. I've got some… personal… business to attend to. Now get out!"  
James and Cassidy just nodded in agreement, and hurriedly marched out of the door, shutting it behind them. Giovanni just sighed, and commented to himself: "The only business I have is with Jack Daniels." He then reached for a new whisky bottle. He poured himself a triple shot, and downed it in one. "Ah… that's better" he half-heartedly spoke. "Now, about those two by the name of Butch and Jesse…" he reached for a stack of paperwork.  
Back in the dormitory, James was amazed. He'd never had a fortnight off before, in fact, he'd never had a day off before. "So, what should we do?" he asked Cassidy, who was sat at her vanity mirror, applying powder to her cheeks.  
"I know we're only supposed to be work partners, but how about we celebrate this with dinner?"  
"Dinner? As in the canteen?" James idiotically replied.  
"No, I mean as in La Petit Chateau, the new Restaurant in town?"  
"But isn't that one of those places where you need to book three months in advance?"  
"Not when I've got someone like Corzon,"  
"Corzon? What's he gonna do?"  
"He's gonna do nothing, he's already done what I need him to do,"  
"Huh?"  
Cassidy reached into a drawer and pulled out a paper slip, then smiled and said "Reservation for two, tonight"  
James took the slip and examined it. "I'll have to admit it… that Corzon is good."  
"Yeah, I'm proud of him. Always going that extra mile to impress people."  
"Oh my god!" James suddenly exclaimed.  
"What?" Cassidy replied, slightly concerned.  
"What am I gonna wear?" James panicked. He didn't have a single suit or tux in his wardrobe.  
"Is that all?" Cassidy shouted. Suddenly, something dawned upon her. "Wait, what am I gonna wear?" Both were in a state of panic. Suddenly, Cassidy got an idea. "I got it!" she shouted.  
"What… is… it…?" James hyperventilated.  
"The emergency supply!"  
"The what?"  
"Team Rocket have a large stash of clothes in all sizes, colours, and styles, so that Agents can use them when infiltrating places."  
"Oh yeah… I forgot about that."  
"We'll borrow some formal outfits from them for the night, then return them."  
"Good plan."  
"Thanks."  
James was first, he spent several minutes, but eventually found a pair of black trousers, a white shirt, black bow tie and cream dinner jacket, which he added to a nice pair of shoes he had stashed in the bottom of his wardrobe. He stood at the reception area of the barracks, calmly glancing at the clock on the wall opposite. Every time he looked across, it seemed to go slower and slower. First it was 6:00, then 6:15, then 6:25, then 6:30. He was about to get annoyed, when the doorway to the dormitory area creaked, and Cassidy stepped out, wearing a long, glittery Emerald green dress, with black lining. A long slit sensually ran up the side of the dress, peaking just before the waistline. James took one look at Cassidy, and his head almost exploded! He especially liked what she had done with her hair, because instead of the usual two-comet style, she had let her hair loose, and it gently ran down to her waist. She stood a couple of inches taller in the green high heels she wore.  
"How do I look?" Cassidy asked.  
"Duh… well… I… uh… err… umm… wow," James stuttered.  
"I take that was an approval."  
"Well… I…"  
"Well, come on, we're gonna be late!" she added, making her way out of the door.  
"Oh, right," James finished, crossing the lobby to her.  
The restaurant was silent, apart from murmurs of romantic couples, and the occasional laugh of a group of businessmen in the corner. Cassidy and James waited silently for the waiter to come. Neither one made eye contact for more than two seconds, every time they did, they moved their head away. Eventually, a waiter approached their table.  
"Bonjour, Monsieur et Madame. Que devrez-vous manger?"  
"Huh?" Cassidy answered. She had no skill with languages. "Don't you speak English?"   
James rolled his eyes, then James coolly spoke, "I'll handle this, J'aurai les pâtes, en sauce italienne."  
"Très bon. Et le madame?" the waiter answered.  
James turned Cassidy. "What were you having?" he asked.  
"Oh, me? I'll have the fish," She replied.  
James turned back to the waiter. "Elle aura les poissons en sauce à vin blanc."  
"Choix très gentil. Votre commande sera avec vous bientôt." the waiter replied. He was about to leave, when James added something else.  
"Ah, et d'ailleurs, nous ne sommes pas mari et épouse." he said.  
"Est-elle votre petite amie? Vous avez mis en sac gentil!" the waiter replied.  
"Non, non, non, il n'est pas comme celui. Nous sommes des associés de travail." James exclaimed.  
"Oh... Je comprends... Associés De Travail... Nice une..." the waiter smiled, before leaving. Cassidy was amazed.  
"I never knew you spoke French!" she shouted.  
James just smiled. "You never asked."  
"So, you think you could ever teach the language to me?"  
"Well, I don't see why not, we've got a fortnight of free time."  
The rest of the night ran smoothly, both finding that they have small things in common with each other. Both heartily enjoyed their meals, and James had even told Cassidy how to thank the waiter, in French!  
Outside, James and Cassidy sat at a bus shelter, waiting for the next bus, which wasn't for three-quarters of an hour. It was a shame, because if it hadn't been raining, and had Cassidy worn some normal shoes, they could have walked back to the base. But it wasn't like that. Cassidy was wearing high heels, and it was raining. It was too silent. Suddenly, Cassidy turned to James, and said something, because something had been irritating her for several minutes!  
"James, you've gotta little…" Cassidy spoke, pointing to the top of her lip.  
"What?" James replied, confused. Cassidy just giggled, and then pulled a paper tissue from her sleeve. She hastily moistened it on her tongue, then leaned over, and wiped the pasta sauce from James' lip."I can wash myself!" James shouted in his defence. He was embarrassed.  
"Well, why didn't you realise you had pasta sauce all over your face?"  
"I did?" James questioned.  
"Right over your top lip."  
"Oh, sorry, and uh… thank you" he replied. For the next few seconds, there was an eerie silence between the two of them, and before either one knew it, they were in liplock.  
"This is wrong. I'm supposed to hate him," Cassidy thought to herself. "But he's such a cute idiot, who needs a smart girl like me, plus he's a damn good kisser!"  
"Uh oh. This doesn't feel right," James was thinking at the same time. "Why am I doing this? Jesse always told me that Cassidy was not nice. But Cassidy is such a wonderful girl, and this kiss… I'm enjoying it… let's not stop."  
After several seconds, which seemed to be an hour, they released their liplock. They just stared at each other again. Eventually, Cassidy piped up the courage to say something.  
"Well… that was… purely something different," she said.  
"Yes, different. Very different," James stammered, still gobsmacked at what had just happened. Neither one knew what to do, or say. This was one situation where James wished he could 'blast off' again, to flee Cassidy, but for some reason, he didn't want to leave Cassidy. "So, uh…" he added.  
"Well… um…"  
"Hmm…"  
"Ah…"  
"Err… Wanna try that again?" he asked.  
"Okay," she smiled. And so they resumed liplock. Right there, standing under the bus shelter, on that rainy evening, under the starlight. 


End file.
